Cycle News Staff | February 7, 2022
MXGP World Champion Jeffrey Herlings suffered setback last week when he crashed while training for the upcoming MXGP Championship. Herlings had just won the opening round of the Spanish National Championship when the Dutchman went down the following day while practicing, re-injuring his heel. The 27-year-old underwent surgery to “insert several screws and a supporting plate to fix the damage,” according to his Red Bull KTM team.
Defending MXGP World Champion Jeffery Herlings suffered another injury to his heel that required surgery.
“We’re paying the price for a ‘nothing’ crash,” Herlings said. “I think I might have hit a small stone on the take-off and that put me over the bars. The impact was pretty big on my left foot and we needed to get it fixed the best we could. Big thanks to the medical staff for looking after me and getting my foot repaired, again! Also to the whole Red Bull KTM team: we’d worked hard for this 2022 season and the goal now is to be back and winning as soon as we can.”
“Of course, this is very disappointing for Jeffrey, the team and the championship,” said the team’s manager Joel Smets. “Trying to look at the positive side, the injury is not as complicated as his foot problem in 2019. The operation took some time, but everything went well and we hope Jeffrey can be out of a cast in less than two weeks and can even start some light training such as swimming and some other activities. Then we’ll have to see how he recovers to plan his GP return.” CN
